Icebergs

I was always puzzled that Lynn Davis photographed icebergs in black and white. Though black and white is primarily what she shoots and her prints are always beautiful - I always found them boring. I am extremely drawn to that rich, intense, vivid, dreamlike blue color that is so unique to polar ice and to desaturate it felt like a jibe to mother nature. Though I do not think she intended to offend and that she herself must have had honest and pure artistic intentions, those photographs do not work for me. That's not to say that artists need give in to every gorgeous spectacle that nature has to offer when interpreting them - but come on - that blue! I then discovered the Broken Line by Olaf Otto Becker and was delighted to see someone photograph icebergs the way I preferred them - in color! Becker's photographs are quite formally composed and are very methodically presented in a voluminous book by Hatje Cantz. It's a very nice book. I recently discovered the work of Fabiano Busdraghi and was transfixed by the image below. I know there are many other photographers drawn to the mystique and beauty of icebergs and perhaps they are like images from Cuba - so easily made into striking photographs (but who doesn't want to be transported to Havana either?) I do imagine the cold makes for shooting icebergs quite challenging and I certainly would be interested in hearing what those challenges are. Now I'm waiting for Ryan McGinley and his crew of lovelies to show up in the polar blue...
images top to bottom: © Lynn Davis, Olaf Otto Becker, Fabiano Busdraghi, and Camille Seaman ( who was brought to my attention since my initial posting.)